The Runners-Up to the 10 Worst People in NYC Restaurants

"Through blogging, social media, and the rise of foodism, we've created a monster of a restaurant industry here in New York City," I write in today's Village Voice. "Unfortunately, that same momentum has spawned an equally scary rise in unsavory characters."

Let's all swallow, for a moment, our collective rage over the absurdity of no-reservations policies in a city teeming with people dying to get into the same handful of restaurants. Let us focus instead on the friend who's persistently late, the person who strolls up cheerfully after we've already told the feral hostess cat that no, our group is not complete. She shook her head and gave our table to someone else, forcing us to the back of the three-hour queue while we fought back tears of hanger (hunger + anger).

A few runners-up that didn't make the story include badly behaved parents, flash photographers, name-droppers, people requesting dish modifications only a scientist could understand, the guy leaning on the bar and blocking our access to a badly needed drink, servers who've never eaten anything on the menu, and all brunchers.